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Vegan Chinese Scallion Pancakes with dipping sauce! A popular Chinese flatbread snack with beautiful flavors.
These scallion pancakes are also known as Chinese Pancakes or Cong You Bing (Chinese name) and are a typical Chinese snack. They are not comparable to our fluffy Western pancakes; think more of a crispy, savory flatbread filled with scallions.
The dough is made with only three ingredients: white flour, salt, and water. After it is kneaded, it is rolled out super thin on a greased work surface, filled with thinly sliced scallions, and rolled up. Then the stuffed dough bun is rolled out into a thin disk and fried in oil until crispy and golden brown.
Tastewise, you can think of it as flaky fried flatbread dough with a beautiful and mild scallion flavor.
Scallion Pancake Dipping Sauce
To make it a little more interesting, the Chinese pancakes are served with a dip made of soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, and a few splashes of red chili oil. The salty and sour scallion pancake sauce is the perfect complement and makes this snack a favorite Chinese dim sum. It’s a must-try for all fans of Chinese cuisine. Plus, this delicious snack isn’t too complicated to make at home.
You can serve it as a snack, finger food, dim sum, or an appetizer with almost any Asian main dish. Chinese pancakes are best when they’re still hot and crispy. Cold pancakes can easily be reheated in a frying pan.
Scallions
I love to buy scallions in the Asian market for this specific recipe. They are much smaller and softer, thus resulting in better pancakes. It works too with the regular scallions you can get in any grocery store. Although, I would then suggest only using the green part of the scallions and slice them very thinly.
Authentic Chinese pancakes are sometimes filled with lard (animal fat), but don’t worry. This one is a recipe for vegan scallion pancakes made with vegetable oil.
How To Make Scallion Pancakes
Read through this visual step-by-step guide with lots of extra tips.
- Mix flour and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add boiling water and mix briefly with the dough hook attached until large flakes have formed. Add the cold water and knead for another 5 minutes until you have a smooth dough.
- Grease a large bowl (you can use the same bowl) with 1 tsp oil, place the dough in it, and cover with a wet tea towel or plastic wrap. Let the dough rest for 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, finely chop the scallions and mix all ingredients for the dipping sauce in a small bowl.
- Knead the dough for another minute by hand. Then, divide it into 6 equal parts and form each one into a ball.
- Grease your working surface with some oil. Starting with one dough ball (cover the rest of them with a damp kitchen towel), roll it out into a thin rectangle using a rolling pin.
- Sprinkle with ⅙ of the chopped scallions, leaving a ½-inch border at the top and on the sides. Roll it up tightly.
- Then roll it into a snail form.
- Roll the filled dough into a thin disc using a rolling pin. → It’s ok if air bubbles burst through and scallions are falling out.
- Heat a skillet over medium-high heat with 1 tbsp vegetable oil. Fry each side for 1-2 minutes until golden brown.
- Repeat those steps with the remaining dough. Adding more oil to grease your working surface and into the hot skillet for frying if necessary.
- Serve hot with the dipping sauce.
Recipe FAQ & Tips
Can I keep leftovers? Store leftovers in an airtight container or packed in foil in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. Reheat in a skillet before serving.
Filling: If you like, you can sprinkle the rolled-out dough (step 5) additionally with some black pepper, sesame seeds, or 5 spice powder.
Greased working surface: A with vegetable oil generously greased surface will help you immensely to roll out the dough super thin!
Flour: Feel free to swap all-purpose flour with spelt flour.
Gluten-Free Scallion Pancakes: The recipe also works with a gluten-free flour blend, but they won’t taste quite as good and will also be less fluffy and crispy. However, if you have to follow a gluten-free diet for health reasons, it’s still better to make them with gluten-free flour instead of going without it altogether. Use cold water to make the gluten-free dough, and knead it only briefly.
More Recipes You’ll Love:
- Sweet and Sour Tofu
- Asian Cucumber Salad with Sesame
- Tofu Stir Fry
- Vegan Tofu Fried Rice
- Vegan Dumplings with Tofu
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Scallion Pancakes
Ingredients
Dough
- 2 cups (250 g) all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ cup (120 ml) boiling water
- ⅓ cup (80 ml) cold water
- 1 tsp oil to grease the bowl
Scallion Pancakes
- 1 cup finely sliced scallions about 2-3 large or a few small scallions → see notes
- a few tbsp vegetable oil
Dipping Sauce
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp rice vinegar
- ½ tsp sesame oil
- a few splashes red chili oil or sriracha sauce, red pepper flakes
Instructions
- Mix flour and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add boiling water and mix briefly with the dough hook attached until large flakes have formed. Add the cold water and knead for another 5 minutes until you have a smooth dough.
- Grease a bowl (you can use the same bowl) with 1 tsp oil, place the dough in it, and cover with a wet tea towel or plastic wrap. Let the dough rest for 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, finely chop the scallions and mix all ingredients for the dipping sauce in a small bowl.
- Knead the dough for another minute by hand. Then, divide it into 6 equal parts and form each one into a ball.
- Grease your working surface with some oil. Starting with one dough ball (cover the rest of them with a damp kitchen towel), roll it out into a thin rectangle using a rolling pin. Sprinkle with ⅙ of the chopped scallions, leaving a ½-inch border at the top and on the sides. Roll it up tightly, then roll it into a snail form.
- Roll the filled dough into a thin disc using a rolling pin. → It’s ok if air bubbles burst through and scallions are falling out.
- Heat a skillet over medium-high heat with 1 tbsp vegetable oil. Fry each side for 1-2 minutes until golden brown.
- Repeat those steps with the remaining dough. Adding more oil to grease your working surface and into the hot skillet for frying if necessary.
- Serve hot with the dipping sauce.
Notes
- Scallions: I love to buy scallions in the Asian market for this specific recipe. They are much smaller and softer, thus resulting in better pancakes. Works too with the regular scallions you can get in any grocery store. Although, I would then suggest only using the green part of the scallions and slice them very thinly.
- Keeps fresh for 2 days if stored in an airtight container or packed in foil in the refrigerator. Reheat in a skillet.
- Filling: If you like, you can sprinkle the rolled-out dough (step 5) additionally with some black pepper or sesame seeds.
- Oil: A with vegetable oil greased surface will help you immensely to roll out the dough super thinly!
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